A Journey Through the Scott Creek Watershed

Scott Creek

Underlying our trajectory towards towards Eagle Rock is the counterpoint of Scott Creek proper, a descending journey from Little Basin to the Pacific Ocean that is defined, in part, by the complex sinuosity of the watercourse. Growing in the upper reaches of the watershed, above the confluence of Bettencourt Gulch with Scott Creek, botanical treasures abound.

Grasses

Growing sympatrically are several native grasses: pine reed grass (Calamagrostis rubescens)
[ca. 25 years ago near the mouth of Bannister Gulch, I discovered a small population producing proliferous spikelets like
Poa bulbosa]; Elmer's fescue (Festuca elmeri), variable as to stature, number of florets, and anther
coloration—yellow or purple; crinkle-awn fescue (Festuca subuliflora), rare within the county; vanilla grass
(Anthoxanthum occidentale), distinguished from all other local grasses by aromatic foliage; and tall trisetum (Trisetum
canescens)—populations within watershed exhibit a high degree of variability, possibly due to past hybridization with nodding trisetum (Trisetum cernuum).

Ferns

Ascending in an elevational profile, from streambank to chaparral's edge, 16 species and natural hybrids of ferns have been documented!

Variety Within Plant Families

From a floristics perspective, one of the values derived from the watershed's biodiversity is the study of contrasts: the variety and plasticity of
morphological templates within a specific family, occupying different niches in the same ecosystem.

Example one: A Rosaceae is a Rosaceae is a Rosaceae, or the case of the ant and the elephant! In terms of stature extremes,
it is hard imagining two more polar opposites than western lady's-mantle (Aphanes occidentalis), a diminutive annual whose adult biomass
can fit with room to spare on the nail of one's little finger and toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), a 6+ meter high sub-tree with ash-gray bark and
fruiting panicles of luminous scarlet pomes.

Example two: Unless one is versed in Carrot Family (Apiaceae) taxonomy and has fruiting plants at hand, it would be difficult to connect
Pacific oenanthe (Oenanthe sarmentosa), California hedge-parsley (Yabea microcarpa), and hoary bowlesia (Bowlesia incana) with
footsteps-of-spring (Sanicula arctopoides), sweet cicely (Osmorhiza berteroi), wild celery (Apiastrum angustifolium), rattlesnake
carrot (Daucus pusillus), and cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum). A diverse family indeed, but the constituent taxa are united by the structure
of their fruits, these when mature splitting into two halves, each containing one seed and temporarily remaining attached to a portion of the central axis known as a carpophore.

Example three:

What is found growing on sandbars along the Scott Creek riparian corridor, is a monocot, and vegetatively simulates an iris but is not one? Excluding flowers and fruits,
the genus Juncus affords the student of form and function a rare opportunity to observe a bewildering array of variations on a theme, often
approaching a sophisticated level of mimicry that can seduce the first-time student into making a hastily arrived-at misdiagnosis! The aforementioned
"iris poseur" is none other than iris-leaved rush (Juncus xiphioides). On the coastal prairies and adjacent grasslands can be found
another foliar chameleon, brown-headed rush (Juncus phaeocephalus), which often grows with and masquerades as blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium
bellum). Occasionally forming a threesome is western rush (Juncus occidentalis), which creates cespitose tufts with leaves and nascent culms
playing the roles of a perennial fescue (Festuca rubra/roemeri) or tufted hair-grass (Deschampsia caespitosa subsp. holciformis),
both of which (to confuse matters further) can be found growing sympatrically!